NEWS

Tolyatti Ring, Tolyatti Lada Granta Cup 2012

Following the first record points (the first stage at the Hungaroring was demonstrative and out-of-competition) 13 teams arrived to the city on the Volga river on its 275th birthday.

It is a well-known fact that the racing rules of the LADA Granta Cup changed this year. In particular, the starting sequence for the two races of a stage is determined now by two qualifications. Each race’s duration is 50 minutes plus one lap with a mandatory pit stop between the 20th and 30th minutes where tires and drivers are changed.

The beginning of the race was favorable for the qualification leaders – the novice Sberbank team represented by Dmitry Bragin (#4) and Mikhail Mityayev (#63). The white-and-green Sberbank cars along with the Granta of Vladimir Sheshenin from Almaks-Major (#16) gradually began to break away from the peloton until the safety car formed it into one line again, after the current Russian Touring champion Alexandr Frolov (#1) exited the race prematurely.

Coming to the mandatory pit stops, Mikhail Loboda of the Moscow Aeroexpress team (#33) gained on the leading group. The Moscow driver managed to take the lead at the expense of a later pit stop, and his twin brother and co-driver Yuriy won the race with confidence. The second place was taken by the 24-year old rising star of Russian motor sport Mikhail Tyagunov from the Yokohama team (#64). The 18-year old Mikhail Maleev, the representative of the Avtocom-AFSO team (#10), came in third.

The results of the first race of the Lada Granta Cup 2012 in Tolyatti:

Mikhail Loboda/Yuriy Loboda (Aeroexpress) 52:04.376

Mikhail Tyagunov (Yokohama) +17.631

Mikhail Maleev/Vladimir Nikolaev (Autocom-AFSO) +1:32.308

Oleg Grinkevich/Матвей Beresnev (Atlantic) +1:34.279

Vladimir Sheshenin/Albert Iliazov (Almaks-Major) +1 lap

Dmitry Kurdyukov/Vladimir Sitnov/Mikhail Mityayev (Sberbank) +1 lap

Dmitry Bragin/Maxim Simonov (Sberbank-Plastic) +5 laps The other teams were not included into the classification.

The second race saw a convincing revenge of Alexandr Frolov from Kaspy-Lada team for his unsuccessful first race. The titled novice of the Lada Granta Cup, performing alone, took an excellent start from pole position and left the rest of the racers several hundred meters behind. The touring race expert was closely followed by another “loner”, an experienced rallycross racer Mikhail Tyagunov, also in a comfortable lead. And, finally, Loboda brtothers, the leaders of the Tolyatti stage qualification, came in third with a significant handicap.

Resuts of the second race in Tolyatti:

Alexandr Frolov (Kaspy-Lada) 52:14.165

Mikhail Tyagunov (Yokohama) +20.142

Mikhail Loboda/Yuriy Loboda (Aeroexpress) +47.348

Dmitry Bragin/Maxim Simonov (Sberbank-Plastic) +1:09.853

Sergey Shalunov/Viktor Antonov (Arloyd Racing) +1:17.328

Alexandr Kobenko/Pavel Kalmanovich (AutoVAZ-PROO) +1:20.941

Rustam Akiniyazov/Boris Schulmeister (Aeroexpress) +1:27.052

Dmitry Kurdyukov/Vladimir Sitnov/Mikhail Mityayev (Sberbank) +1 lap

Alexey Chaban/Alexey Degtyarev (RT-Trans) +1 lap The other teams retired from the race.

Classification after the first record stage:

Mikhail Loboda/Yuriy Loboda (Aeroexpress) 41 points

Mikhail Tyagunov (Yokohama) 36

Alexandr Frolov (Kaspy-Lada) 25

Dmitry Bragin/Maxim Simonov (Sberbank-Plastic) 19

Dmitry Kurdyukov/Vladimir Sitnov/Mikhail Mityayev (Sberbank) 14

Sergey Shalunov/Viktor Antonov (Arloyd Racing) 10

Alexandr Kobenko/Pavel Kalmanovich (AutoVAZ-PROO) 8

Rustam Akiniyazov/Boris Schulmeister (Aeroexpress) 6

Alexey Chaban/Alexey Degtyarev (RT-Trans) 2

The next stage of the Lada Granta Cup 2012 will be held outside Russia, in Ukraine. On June 23-24, Russian Ladas will be testing the Chayka Ring track in Kiev.